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Do you feel like you just don’t stop? While it’s not wrong to be busy, it can start to feel that life is passing you by.
If you’re up and active from the moment the alarm goes off and still feel like you have a mountain to do at the end of the day then you know firsthand the kind of toll it can take.
In today’s post, we’ll cover some “busy quotes” to help you slow down or at the very least, take a breather from the roller coaster ride of a hectic life.
Why Read Quotes About Being Busy?
While it’s unavoidable that there are going to be busy periods in your life, you should take care to find moments to slow down, pause, and reevaluate. If you’re looking for quotes about dealing with a schedule that’s packed to the gills, then you’re aware of this on some level already.
Being busy can feel great – if you have tons of work then it shows that your contribution is valued. Or, it shows that you have a ton of responsibilities – whether that’s taking care of kids, or elderly parents, administrating a business, or other such activities.
However, leading a life that’s so busy that you don’t get any time for yourself can very quickly start to wear down your health, contribute to feeling stressed and restless, and can gradually erode any quality of life you have. This is especially true if you have a more introverted personality type.
So, these busy quotes are here to help you find the time to pause, reflect, take stock of your priorities and begin to step towards living a more conscious life that works for you and not through you.
51 Busy Quotes for People with Hectic Lives
- “It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Life Is What Happens While You Are Busy Making Other Plans” – John Lennon
- “Stop the world. I want to get off.” – Anthony Newley
- “I wanted to figure out why I was so busy, but I couldn't find the time to do it.” – Todd Stocker
- “I recommend you take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves.” – Earl of Chesterfield
- “Don’t Get So Busy Making A Living That You Forget To Make A Life” – Dolly Parton
- “S.T.O.P. = Start To Open Possibilities” – Richie Norton
- “To do two things at once is to do neither.” – Publilius Syrus
- “You will become impressive the day you stop trying. You will become successful the day you stop being busy.” – Maxime Lagace
- “You can't do traditional work at a modern pace. Traditional work has traditional rhythms. You need calm. You can be busy, but you must remain calm.” – Bill Buford
- “You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.” – Charles Buxton
- “Being busy is one thing however productivity is the real gem.” – Hopal Green
- “Taking just an hour off from your busy schedule and working on your own health can do wonders for you.” – Pooja Agnihotri
- “Those who are wise won’t be busy, and those who are too busy can’t be wise.” – Lin Yutang
- “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “A plan is what, a schedule is when. It takes both a plan and a schedule to get things done.” – Peter Turla
- “A bee is never as busy as it seems; it’s just that it can’t buzz any slower.” – Kin Hubbard
- “Being busy doesn't mean being productive.” – Aniekee Tochukwu Ezekiel
- “There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living: there is nothing that is harder to learn.” – Seneca
- “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” – Will Rogers
- “The majority prove their worth by keeping busy. A busy life is the nearest thing to a purposeful life.” – Eric Hoffer
- “Being busy has its perk, and every perk comes with certain limitations. Friends drifting away because you're a bit busy is one of the many limitations.” – Sarvesh Jain
- “Listen, there are other things in life besides the day-to-day, all of this is great but really, it's going nowhere… It seems like I don't have time to do anything. I'm stuck… I do a million things and nothing comes out…” – Dominique Goblet
- “What would it be like to only have activities in your life that ‘sparked joy?’ … it’s a goal to keep in mind as you evaluate your schedule.” – Laura Vanderkam
- “Take a rest. A field that has rested yields a beautiful crop.” – Ovid
- “A man has always to be busy with his thoughts if anything is to be accomplished.” – Anton van Leeuwenhoek
- “No matter how busy and important you think you are, you cannot reject nature’s call.” – Michael Bassey Johnson
- “Why am I so busy? When everything around me is moving so fast, I stop and ask, ‘Is it the world that’s busy, or is it my mind?'” – Haemin Sunim
- “If you win the rat race, you’re still a rat.” – Lily Tomlin
- “It’s called an occupation. Not a preoccupation. It’s called success, not obsess. And it’s called being in a business. Not being in abyss-ness. It’s called giving yourself a break to avoid a breakdown. It’s called being good to you.” – Karen Salmansohn
- “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu
- “Focused action beats brilliance.” – Mark Sanborn
- “We are not that busy; we are just distracted.” – Shawn Wells
- “We stay so busy that the truth of our lives can’t catch up.” – Brené Brown
- “Sometimes, “busy” is shorthand for something else, in the same way that “tired” can mean anything from physically exhausted to extremely depressed.” – Adam J. Kurtz
Sometimes, “busy” is shorthand for something else, in the same way that “tired” can mean anything from physically exhausted to extremely depressed.” – Adam J. Kurtz
- “Begin with the end in mind.” – Steven Covey
- “Busy is a choice. Stress is a choice. Joy is a choice. Choose well.” – Ann Voskamp
- “Being busy is as good as doing nothing.. practicing deliberate nothingness is a form of meditation..” – Jaya Bhateja
- “Not knowing how near the truth is, we seek it far away.” – Hakuin Ekaku
- “Much of the stress that people feel doesn’t come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they started.” – David Allen
- “It is possible to be busy-very busy-without being very effective.” – Stephan Covey
- “Even most of those who really never have time to read a book usually have more than enough time to listen to one.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” – Socrates
- “You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” – Alvin Toffler
- “People are realizing that we are not rats and life is not a race.” – Geir Berthelsen
- “Some people are so busy learning the tricks of the trade that they never learn the trade.” – Vernon Law
- “Doing is often a subconscious escape from being.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- “To me, ‘busy' implies that the person is out of control of their life.” – Derek Sivers
- “Just because we're busy doesn't mean we're being productive. Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination.” – Gretchen Rubin
- “Don’t mistake movement for achievement. It’s easy to get faked out by being busy. The question is: Busy doing what?” – Jim Rohn
- “Being busy is a disease of our time.” – Pedram Shojai
Final Thoughts on Busy Quotes
Being chronically busy is a surefire way to harm all the other aspects of your life. While it can take time to slow down the pace of a relentlessly hectic schedule, it’s well worth carving out some time to read “busy quotes” like these.
It’s a great way to get your mind into a more reflective mode and understand how you can best change your circumstances to favor the kind of life you want and not live project to project.
In the meantime, if you’re feeling stressed, anxious and busy, check out these happiness hacks: 43 quick ways to make yourself happy. Getting some serotonin into our brains often leads to insights we would have completely missed otherwise.
And if you want more inspirational quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 37 Slow Down Quotes to Enjoy Your Life
- 79 Mindfulness Quotes for a More Mindful Life
- 37 Self-Reflection Quotes to Help You Grow as a Person
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then check out and recite these 57 affirmations for success.
Tom Smith is a creative writer with over 6 years of professional experience. He discovered the joy of writing after covering some furniture in his childhood home with graffiti. In later years, he got himself a BA in creative writing and hasn’t looked back. After discovering the power of positive thinking and discovering the spiritual side of life, he believes it's a huge privilege to be able to write about all things personal development.
